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Somerville Reads

Join us on Monday Sept 19th at 7pm as Somerville Reads Kicks Off with our discussion of the Witches by Stacy Schiff. Light Refreshments will be served.The first 10 people to arrive will receive free tickets to the Witch House in Salem!

The new display at the Somerville Public Library on Highland Ave, created by our one and only staff member, Thy, is now in our glass case for viewing. The display features books, movies and upcoming programming happening all surrounding the Somerville Reads 2016 book "The Witches" by Stacy Schiff.

We're getting ready for Somerville Reads 2016 - our next One City, One Book program, which will take place in the early Fall - and we need your input! Which of these books would you most like to read and discuss as a community? You can read about each book below (the reviews have been edited for length then vote for your pick at the bottom of this post.

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowel

What do you get when a woman who's obsessed with death and U.S. history goes... Read Post

We're getting ready for Somerville Reads 2016 - our next One City, One Book program, which will take place in the early Fall - and we need your input! Which of these books would you most like to read and discuss as a community? You can read about each book below (the reviews have been edited for length) then vote for your pick at the bottom of this post.
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowel
What do you get when a woman who's obsessed with death and U.S. history goes on vacation? This wacky,... Read Post

Remember Mark Watney in The Martian modifying the astronaut habitat to grow potatoes? Over at Quirk Books Danielle Mohlman has posted some potato recipes from various online sources.
And if you're interested in food real-life astronauts would eat, Tara Ziegmont of Feels Like Home has instructions for making astronaut pudding. The post includes a video of an astronaut on the International Space Station demonstrating how he and his co-workers make dinner.
Yum.

Earlier this week, NASA announced the discover of water on Mars. However, the Curiosity rover is banned by treaty from analyzing it.
The Mars Orbiter spotted a dry-ice avalanche on the planet.
Over at Space.com, staff writer Mike Wall outlines the various ways NASA might get a manned mission to Mars.
And over at Wired.com, Angela Watercutter explains why the movie is better than the book.

Does your kid want to make a Martian? Silly question--what kid wouldn't? Be at the East Branch tomorrow with your children at 3:30 and Children's Librarian Meghan Forsell will open her Ali Baba's cave of craft supplies and help your kids make mini-Martians out of her wondrous trove of creative goods.
Then follow it up with dinner and a movie at the Central Library! Children's Librarian Cathy Piantigini hosts a potluck dinner and an outdoor screening of the 2005 version of The War of... Read Post

One noteworthy feature of The Martian is the absence of any, well, actual Martians. In many science fiction works set on Mars, most notably Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, the presence of an intelligent native species is a key plot element. And thanks to the work of Percival Lowell, whom I wrote about in yesterday's blog post, many credulous people believed that Mars was inhabited. And given that contact between different human cultures has often resulted in war, there was little reason... Read Post

The selection of The Martian for Somerville Reads raises the question, "Why Mars?" No one would ever write a book called The Venusian or The Plutoniac. But the words "Martian" or "Mars" command attention. And they long have. But why? What is it about this planet that has fascinated humanity for so long? A partial explanation is that Mars is distinctive-looking. The planets we can see without telescopes look like more or less white stars. Mars, on the other hand, is a striking reddish color.... Read Post

Jim J Zebroski of the Aldrich Astronomical Society will be giving a talk on Mars as our kickoff event for this year's Somerville Reads. Zebroski will discuss the history of humanity's fascination with the red planet and our ever-increasing knowledge of it thanks to satellites, probes, and unmanned rovers. There will also be a touch table with replica samples of Martian soil and model rovers.
If the weather's good and the skies are clear, Zebroski will take the audience outside to look at Mars... Read Post

There’s still plenty of summer left regardless of all the Back to School merchandise and the (GASP!) snow blowers that appear to be creeping into the patio section of your local Target. Summer is my favorite time of year to relax with some great reading material. Here are a few recent selections of mine for you to consider.
The Cold Nowhere by Brian Freeman
Detective Jonathan Stride has his hands full with the mystery surrounding a supposed murder/suicide when a decade later he finds the lone... Read Post

Our next book for Somerville Reads, our annual community one town/one book series of events, is the critically acclaimed best-seller The Martian, the story of an astronaut stranded on Mars and his struggle for survival. The Wall Street Journal called it "The best pure sci-fi novel in years." Kirkus Reviews praised it for being "sharp, funny and thrilling." A film adaptation directed by Ridley Scott (the genius behind one of the best sci-fi films of all time) will be in theaters in November.... Read Post

Books for Somerville Reads 2014 have arrived and are now available at all SPL locations!
Somerville Reads is a project that promotes literacy and community engagement by encouraging people all over the City to read and discuss the same book. The book that has been selected for 2014 is Dark Tide: the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 by Stephen Puleo. A companion children's book has also been selected: The Great Molasses Flood: Boston, 1919 by Deborah Kops. Both of these authors will be... Read Post